Professor in the Practice Search Procedures

Last updated: January 17, 2024

Criteria

Professors in the practice will be distinguished practitioners who demonstrate eminence in the field, sustained accomplishment, and sustained activity in their area of practice. They will hold national or international reputations for their innovative and transformational contributions to their practice, through creative work, professional leadership, practice-centered publications, or other demonstrations of significant accomplishment. Exceptional contributions as a practitioner are the basis of evaluation. This appointment is not intended for those whose field of practice is primarily that of teaching or pedagogy. (Faculty Handbook, IV.I)

Conditions and Terms of Appointment

FAS appointments at this rank must be at least half-time. Terms can be for up to five years, with the possibility of reappointment in accordance with applicable policies and procedures. Initial appointment or promotion to this rank will require review by the appropriate Tenure and Appointments Committee and approval of the Yale Corporation.

Process

1. Search Request Procedures

Departmental Selection

  • The department determines—usually through a process of review of published, produced, performed, created, or other professional representations of work as well as through research, reading, and discussion—that a search in a given area of need would undoubtedly yield a particular person as the top candidate.
  • Alternately, the department hears that an especially eminent practitioner is suddenly movable, spurring them to propose a search for that person.
  • The selected candidate may be external to Yale or may already hold a Yale faculty position of any rank (instructional, research, or ladder).

Search Request Submission

  • The department chair submits a search request to the FAS Dean at fas.dean@yale.edu with a copy to the relevant divisional dean. The request should include:
  1. Rationale for an eminent practitioner search—for the particular individual and the field(s) in the context of the department, division, school, and university (as appropriate)
  2. Description of the process through which the proposed candidate was identified
  3. CV, professional resume, or biography of proposed candidate
  4. Information about teaching and graduate training context, including information about the candidate’s experience in teaching or training, and potential courses the proposed candidate may offer relative to the department’s teaching needs.

Search Request Review

Regarding Fully Joint Appointments:

  • In cases involving fully joint appointments, a single unit takes primary administrative responsibility for the search process.
  • A fully joint appointment between the FAS and a professional school requires approval through the normal procedures of both the FAS and the professional school in which the appointment is proposed.

2. Job Advertisement and Interfolio Procedures

If an external candidate is a US citizen or permanent resident, no public advertisement is necessary.

  • Department chair’s assistant creates a private search in Interfolio, using reason code “Other” and typing Professor in the Practice in the resulting text field.
  • Once the position has been approved, chair’s assistant adds the proposed candidate as an applicant to the search. The candidate will receive an email alerting them, and will need to fill out the EEO form within Interfolio. 
  • Chair’s assistant adds candidate’s CV to the application.
  • Position status is set to Short List / Final Candidate(s) and the applicant status of the candidate is set to Full / Campus Interview.
  • Chair’s assistant submits for approval in the Faculty Search Reporting Process (FSRP).

If an external candidate is not a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, the position must be publicly advertised (in accordance with the Office of International Students & Scholars’ requirements for Recruitment Advertising Involving International Applicants). If that is the case, the department/program should contact the FAS Dean’s Office for further information on how to advertise this position.

3. Case Review Procedures

The case review should take place as soon as the search has been approved in FSRP.

All candidates for initial appointments to the rank of Professor in the Practice must be reviewed for and receive affirmative votes from the appointing department(s) and the relevant divisional/area Tenure and Appointments Committee (TAC) before a formal offer can be made.

Please refer to the Review for initial appointment to Professor in the Practice procedures.

For the templates and forms needed for the case review, see the Instructional (Non-Ladder) Appointments Document Library.

NOTE: Please remember that all recommendation letters and referee letters should be held in the strictest confidence. Only those faculty members who are allowed to vote on a candidate’s case have permission to view the letters (see the Faculty Handbook Section IV.F.1 for voting policy). The only document that may be shared with those not directly involved with a faculty search, appointment, or promotion is the candidate’s CV.

4. Offer Procedures

This step may not begin until the TAC review has been successfully completed.

Candidate Notification

  • The department may notify the candidate by email or phone that a formal offer letter will be coming. No details of the offer should be communicated at this point.

Offer Letter Creation

  • The offer letter will specify that an appointment is contingent upon subsequent Corporation approval.
  • The offer letter is signed by the department chair and the divisional dean.

Offer Letter Issuance

  • The FAS Dean’s Office sends the candidate an electronic offer letter, with a copy to the department chair and divisional dean. Departments are not authorized to extend offer letters; they must be created and issued by the FAS Dean’s Office.

Offer Letter Acceptance

  • The candidate must send a signed copy of the letter to the FAS Dean’s Office at fas.dean@yale.edu. An electronic scan of the offer letter is sufficient.

5. Onboarding Procedures

These steps may not begin until an offer signed by the candidate has been received.

Contact

FAS Dean's Office